Hello everyone, I need some help. Yesterday I woke up to find that my two females had some injuries of sorts. Toast had a small spot of fur missing from her side and Bagel has two small spots of fur missing from her back and a small part of her ear. My two girls have never fought before. I mean, I have never seen them even squabble. They never chase each other, nib, squeak, tail rattle or anything even close. That morning I watched them and they seemed to get another perfectly fine. Nevertheless, I separated them anyway because, even though there wasn't necessarily any blood, I didn't want them to get any more hurt. Do you guys have any ideas what happened? I honestly have no idea. Should I try to reintroduce them? I don't want to leave them both alone. Should I get two more mice so that I have two groups of two. Or maybe I can get one more mouse and bond them all to perhaps balance everything. Any advice will help. Thanks.

Hi First, I’m not very much an expert on mouse behaviour, so hopefully others will try to help, too!Are you quite sure they were fighting, resulting in missing bits of the coats or the chip on the ear? Or could it be something else, like excessive scratching, perhaps due to parasites? From what I’ve read, colonies of female mice should start with three. They can then establish a pecking order, with one mouse mediating between the top mouse and the weakest. With two, you can end up just one dominating the other; I had that problem once, it became difficult when the topdog mouse didn’t allow the underdog mouse to eat food. Having at least three together solved such problems for me. So, I think introducing a third mouse to your two might be a good option in the long run. I’d love to hear what others say, too. Not sure if separating them is good for them? If there’s no blood, even if they had a bit of a fight but with no real injuries, separation is likely to just make them lonely and they might handle things even worse later. If you’re really worried just wait until you get more replies before putting them back together.

Thanks for the reply! I don't think it was scratching, although it could be, it happened in one night and the day before their fur was fine. Also, there isn't dripping blood, but it is pretty red on the skin and a little bit of fur. I can try to add pictures if that would be helpful. I actually did have three mice, but a while ago one of them passed away unexpectedly which I think might have thrown off the balance.